Container bags having an injection site port, an administration port and a fill port opening in one end and with a depending tab having a hanger opening therein on the other end are known in the art. Generally, container bags are filled with a sterile fluid, for example, a dextrose solution or saline solution or one of a myriad of other medical fluids. The injection site port allows addition of a medicament to the medical fluid. Fluids in the container bag may be delivered to the patient through an administration set having a spike or cannula at one end which is inserted into the administration port of the container bag. Prior to use of the container bag, both the injection site port and the administration port are usually covered by a thermoplastic port protector or closure which defines a frangible section at the port site.
Usually, in the manufacture of such container bags, an injection site port and an administration port are attached to a container bag at their respective port openings followed by a sterile filling of the container bag through a fill port opening. Once the required volume of fluid is in the container bag, the fill port opening is sealed. Port protectors may be attached to the injection site port and the administration port either before or after sealing of the fill port.
Use of container bags made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is widespread in the medical field. However, plastic materials with a water vapor permeability lower than PVC have been used as substitutes. With rapid advancements in plastic blow molding technology, blow-molded, polyolefin containers have become cost competitive with PVC containers while at the same time providing materials that are highly impermeable to water vapor.
Sealing of the PVC fill port openings on PVC bags is generally accomplished by pinching off and heat sealing the open end. Polyolefin bags, however, are sealed with a heat, pinch-sealing method only with difficulty. The inner wall of a polyolefin fill port tube, when pinched together, does not readily fuse together when heat is applied to form a strong closure line. The closure line must be physically disrupted and the plastic at the interface mixed, if the highest quality seal is to be effected.